And All That Jazz
by superlc529
Summary: Reece is at Rudy's the Jazz club and runs into none other than Abe... an unlikely friendship sparks. (From the anon prompt: 'Reece becomes friends with Abe over their mutual interest in jazz. (Bonus if she doesn't know about Abe's connection to Henry.)')


A/N: I don't own Forever. I meant to post this yesterday to cross-post on AO3, but I had a very busy day yesterday... So I'm posting it over here today. ;) :)

I decided to focus on Reece (and challenge myself) for the New York's Finest Ficathon over on AO3. Since I hadn't written a lot about our beloved Lieutenant, I figured I'd give her a go. Had a few ideas but was inspired by the anon prompt 'Reece becomes friends with Abe over their mutual interest in jazz. (Bonus if she doesn't know about Abe's connection to Henry.)' with my own spin on it. Whoever made this prompt, I hope you like it and I of course hope everybody else likes it too. :)

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And All That Jazz

 _Rudy's_ Jazz Club was in full swing. Joanna Reece sat at the bar nursing a glass of wine – her third. But she wasn't counting. It had been a hard day at work. Ever since the jazz case, every once and awhile, she would come down to the club and listen to the music with a soothing glass of wine. Joanna closed her eyes and reveled in the smooth sounds enveloping around her.

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Fancy meeting you here," a familiar voice made Reece open her eyes and turn around.

"Abe? What are you doing here?" Reece was surprised to see her Medical Examiner's roommate in a jazz club.

"Enjoying the tunes," Abe took a seat across from her.

"I would've thought you'd be more inclined to go to an opera than a jazz club," Reece raised an eyebrow.

"I think you've got me confused with my roommate," Abe smirked back, "Henry's more of the music snob. I love jazz."

"I'm not easily surprised, but you being a jazz fan is definitely not something I would've guessed," Reece said.

"Actually, I was just about to say the same thing about you," Abe replied before raising his own glass of scotch to his lips.

"I don't advertise my musical tastes," Reece shrugged, "But jazz has been a part of my life since I was little."

"Me too," Abe nodded, "My dad was trying to teach me classical music like Chopin and our neighbor came by and showed me the light."

"How old were you?" Reece asked. Joanna Reece was never really one for small talk, but there was something about the older man's welcoming presence that urged her to want to know more about their mutual love of the musical genre.

"About ten… almost eleven," Abe took another sip of his drink, "How about you?"

"Five," Reece got this nostalgic look in her eye.

"Once I told my dad that jazz is our classical music and he told me he failed as a father," Abe laughed.

"Sounds like our families are very different. Jazz has always been around in my family. My nephew is a jazz musician and so was my uncle," Reece told him.

"Anybody I might have heard of?" Abe rested his arm on the back of the booth.

"Unfortunately my nephew never had the chance to record anything, courtesy of _Dovebird Records_ …" Reece started.

"Wasn't that the record company you guys looked into when Henry had that _6 A.M._ – Pepper Evans case?" Abe interrupted.

"Yes," Reece answered slowly, a look of suspicion growing in her eyes, "Exactly how much does Henry tell you about the cases we work on?"

"Not much," Abe replied shortly, dropping his arm back to his side. He wasn't too big to admit that the woman intimidated him, "Anyway, you were talking about your family's history with jazz."

Reece recognized the not-so-subtle attempt at getting back on subject, but hid it behind her glass as she took another sip of her wine, "My uncle managed to record a few things here and there."

"What's his name?" Abe wondered, "Maybe I've heard of him."

"Red Holland," Reece replied.

"Get outta here," Abe slapped his hand on the table, "That was my neighbor's name! He's the guy that introduced me to jazz back when I was a kid."

It really was a small world, "You're kidding."

"Wow. It's crazy how people can be connected to each other, isn't it?" Abe shook his head.

"I have to admit that's a little astonishing," Reece agreed. The music stopped. Reece and Abe turned their attention to the stage.

"All right, folks, we're gonna take a little break," the musician grabbed the microphone, "We'll be right back."

"So, you have a favorite song?" Abe turned back to Reece.

She let out a sigh, "Too many to count… but I guess after hearing it again after awhile, I'd have to say _6 A.M._ is my favorite. You?"

"Same," Abe nodded, "It just changed all the rules of jazz. It was almost as if Pepper couldn't pick just one way to express his joy."

"I said the same thing when we were on that case," Reece slightly cocked her head. They really did have a lot in common.

"You should've heard me when I found out Henry got to meet Pepper Evans… and to hear the original recording," Abe's smile couldn't get any bigger.

"Yes, I heard about the special bake-off you had," Reece leaned forward with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raise.

Abe visibly fidgeted in his seat, "Yeah, well… it was for the good of the case. And I knew what I was doing. I wasn't gonna risk anything with that audio tape."

"Try not to cook anymore evidence, all right?" Reece remarked.

"Scout's honor," Abe held up three fingers for the 'Scout's salute.'

Reece let a small smile escape her lips. Each of the Morgan men were too easy to tease, "Well, I'd hate to cut this evening short, but I'd better head home."

"Do you have to?" Abe looked up at Reece, "It's nice to be able to talk to somebody that loves jazz just as much as I do."

"I wouldn't say no to listening to some jazz records, if you're up to it," Reece suggested.

"Yeah," Abe scooted out of the booth to stand next to Reece, "Let me get my coat."

* * *

Joanna Reece and Abe Morgan stepped out of the cab in front of Abe's antiques shop. All the lights were off, "Hmm, Henry must've gone to bed already."

"How did you two end up becoming roommates anyhow?" Reece asked as Abe unlocked the front door.

"Uh, well, his dad and I were business partners in the antiques business," Abe explained with their usual story, "Once Henry came over to the states after his father died… well, it just felt natural to become roommates. He's family."

Reece slowly nodded and stepped inside the shop.

"So," Abe clapped his hands, bringing Reece's attention over to him and his record player, "Any requests?"

"Do you have any Miles Davis records?" Joanna suggested with a hopeful look in her eye.

"Do I? Pick one," Abe sorted through his collection and handed her a couple of albums. After a moment of sorting through Abe's albums of the jazz legend, she settled on one. Slowly, the musical genius of Miles Davis permeated the air with his song: _So What_.

"Beautiful," Abe and Reece said in unison.

"Abe?" Henry slowly came into the room, "I thought you said you were going to be late tonight… that you were going to the jazz…"

Henry stopped when he saw Lieutenant Reece sitting next to Abe in one of his lounge chairs, "Club."

"Yeah, hey, Henry, look who I ran into down there," Abe pointed to Joanna.

"Lieutenant Reece, what an unexpected and lovely surprise," Henry smiled.

"Don't hurt yourself there, Henry," Reece grinned.

"So, what are you two up to?" Henry clasped his hands behind his back.

"Listening to some of my old jazz records," Abe nodded to the record player. One of Davis' songs just finished.

"Ah," Henry finally heard the music, "You sure you wouldn't rather listen to some of my records?"

"Henry," Abe started and Reece cut him off, "Honestly, Henry, you sound worse than Abe's father. He was telling me about him."

"Was he now?" Henry eyed his son.

"Yeah, good things… well most of it," Abe smirked.

"After what Abe told me, I get the feeling that you and Abe's father would probably have a lot in common," Reece stood up and walked past Henry toward the record player.

"That I would," Henry agreed and shared a look with Abe.

"On the way over here, Abe was telling me that you wanted him to teach you a little jazz," Reece carefully lifted the record needle off the record successfully turning it off.

"It was after our jazz case," Henry wasn't sure where his unofficial boss was going with this line of thought.

She stopped by their piano, "Care to play a little something?"

"Oh," Henry started to catch on, "Of course… a little Chopin or Vivaldi perhaps?"

"Jazz, Henry," Abe was standing next to Reece with a big grin on his face as he folded his arms, mirroring the Lieutenant.

"Oh," Henry finally got it.

"Sometimes you have to spell it out for him… he's getting old, you know," Abe turned to Reece who just smiled in return, still looking expectantly at Henry.

"Uh, yes…" Henry sat down at the piano, "I'm still fairly new at it, you understand…"

"Quit stalling," Reece interrupted what she was sure would've been a long explanation, "Let's hear what you've got."

"Scoot over, Henry," Abe bumped Henry on the bench, "I'll help you out."

"All right, Lieutenant," Henry looked back at Joanna and cracked his fingers, "Get ready for…"

"5, 6, 7, 8," Abe burst out and started to play on his side of the piano. Immediately after, Henry joined his son and soon the room was full of jazz. Joanna Reece clapped along. Who knew when she decided to have a quiet night to herself at a jazz club it would end with Henry Morgan and Abe… Morgan playing jazz together for her.

Hmm…

THE END

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A/N: All right… that took on a little different turn than what I thought. Funny how the characters like to take over the story all the time. Hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you thought. It was fun writing Reece. Not sure if I got her voice just right, but I hope it wasn't too bad for my first attempt. Don't forget to check out all the other awesome stories in New York's Finest Ficathon over on AO3. :)


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